Heroes
by WeLoveNeville
Summary: Even when he was a child, Sherlock struggled with the idea of heroes. He never understood them.


**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**  
_This came to me very randomly as I listened to Alesso's Heroes. I guess Sherlock will have always struggled with the humane idea of having heroes in life._  
_I've also got flu, so it probably doesn't make a lot of sense!_

_**WARNING:** Credit for Sherlock goes to ACD, MG and SM. I gain no profit off this._

* * *

Heroes.

Even in primary school, Sherlock didn't understood the meaning behind them. Especially when his teacher asked the class to write about their personal hero. It got him thinking: what was a hero? Who were heroes? How did you become a hero? Was there any point to heroes?

He went home that day from school and asked Mycroft (since Mummy and Daddy were very busy) what a hero was. Mycroft dismissed him with a snappy retort of "Heroes don't exist, Sherlock!"

While playing pirates with Redbeard, Sherlock even asked his faithful dog, but in response the dog licked his face. That wasn't very helpful, but Sherlock didn't mind.

He never did that homework. How could he when he struggled with the concept of a hero? How can you write about your hero when you don't even know what one is?

*SH*

Sherlock all but forgot about heroes until the day he met Dr. Watson, and the day he realised John venerated him as a hero for London.

He couldn't understand how John could think like that, especially when John had been the one to fight for Queen and country in Afghanistan - and taken a bullet. How could the doctor view the sociopath as a hero? It was unexplainable. Sherlock treaded the line between good and bad, light and darkness. Either side would obviously profit from having the Sherlock Holmes, but Sherlock choosing to invent a job title and chase after criminals, cleaning up after the oft inadequate NSY, staying in the light, did not make him a hero. Even after he had rebuked John for suggesting it, John's feelings still nagged Sherlock in the back of his mind palace.

*SH*

Heroes.

Even in primary school, Sherlock didn't understood the meaning behind them. He was in his thirties now.

What was a hero?  
Who were heroes?  
How did you become a hero?  
Was there any point to heroes?

Sherlock considered heroes while he was on self exile from England for two years. It was a mundane thought train to keep his mind active while he snatched a bit of sleep here and there.

Was Molly Hooper a hero for helping save him? Was that a qualification to be a hero? He didn't know.

Was he a hero truly now for dismantling Moriarty's circle? Was that a qualification to be a hero?

Surely not, contrary to what some might say. In the process of that, he'd ruined his best friend.

John would never see Sherlock as a hero again, not when Sherlock returned, and as this dawned on Sherlock as he lay in a dirty back alley, under the stars, in Bangkok, this strangely upset him.

*SH*

Heroes.

They were an odd concept. Viewing someone as inspiration. Did it show less ambition? Sherlock didn't know.

His return to London was different to what he had expected. John was pissed off, that moustache - ! - and John had a girlfriend - or was that fiancée? Sherlock hadn't noticed if John had actually proposed or not, he'd been a little more preoccupied with not getting his nose broken.

But Sherlock could still sense it.

John still viewed him as a hero.

Goldfish were weird. Whether live-ins or not.

*SH*

Heroes.

Ok, so maybe he *could* be classed as some sort of hero. He solved murders and therefore people's lives all the time. He'd saved London from a bomb plot. He'd saved his best friend's wedding from utter ruin. He'd saved his best friend and his wife.  
Did that make Sherlock a hero?

He didn't know.

Did he care? No, not really. Being a hero wasn't going to stop him from protecting John, protecting Mary, protecting Molly, protecting Lestrade - his name was Graham, right? Had to be. - protecting Mrs Hudson, protecting (with a grudge) his family, protecting London, protecting the country.

Although if being a hero meant he couldn't do that, heroes were an useless concept then.

*SH*

Heroes.

They literally screamed, "goldfish idea!" to Sherlock.

What a silly concept.

He still was John's hero, regardless of Sherlock's thoughts on them.

And you know what? He liked it.


End file.
